| cable length | |
| Standard: | Imperial/US units |
| Quantity: | Length |
| Units1: | Imperial/US units |
| Units2: | Metric (SI) units |
| Units Imp1: | Imperial/US units |
| Units Imp2: | Metric (SI) units |
| Units Us1: | Imperial/US units |
| Units Us2: | Metric (SI) units |
A cable length or length of cable is a nautical unit of measure equal to one tenth of a nautical mile or approximately 100 fathoms. Owing to anachronisms and varying techniques of measurement, a cable length can be anywhere from 169to, depending on the standard used.
The modern word cable is directly descended from the Middle English cable, cabel or kabel and also occurs in Middle Dutch and Middle German. Ultimately the word comes from Romanic, probably from a cattle halter. A cable in this usage cable is a thick rope or by transference a chain cable. The OED gives quotations from onwards. A cable's length (often "cable length" or just "cable") is simply the standard length in which cables came, which by 1555 had settled to around or .
Traditionally rope is made on long ropewalks, the length of which determines the maximum length of rope it is possible to make. As rope is "closed" (the final stage in manufacture) the length reduces, thus the ropewalk at Chatham Dockyard is long in order to produce standard 220m (720feet) coils.
The definition varies:
In 2008 the Royal Navy in a handbook defined it as